title: Hypnosis for exercise-induced asthma.
abstract: Hypnosis has been used for many years in the treatment of asthma, but studies of its usefulness have been controversial. We assessed the efficacy of hypnosis in attenuating exercise-induced asthma (EIA) in 10 stable asthmatics. The subjects ran on a treadmill while mouth breathing for 6 min on 5 different days. Pulmonary mechanics were measured before and after each challenge. Two control exercise challenges resulted in a reproducible decrease in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1). On 2 other days, saline or cromolyn by nebulization was given in a double-blind manner with the suggestion that these agents would prevent EIA. Hypnosis prior to exercise resulted in a 15.9% decrease in FEV1 compared with a 31.8% decrease on the control days (p less than 0.001). Pretreatment with cromolyn resulted in a 7.6% decrease in FEV1. We conclude that hypnosis can alter the magnitude of a pathophysiologic process, namely, the bronchospasm after exercise in patients with asthma.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000628:therapy*; D001250:Asthma, Exercise-Induced / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002648:Child; D004205:Cromolyn Sodium / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D005082:Physical Exertion; D010919:Placebos
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos; D004205:Cromolyn Sodium